Ben Goldacre writes "Bad Science" -- unpicking dodgy scientific claims made by scaremongering journalists, dubious government reports, evil pharmaceutical corporations, PR companies and quacks.
Why you should listen to him:
"It was the MMR story that finally made me crack," begins the Bad Science manifesto, referring to the sensationalized -- and now-refuted -- link between vaccines and autism. With that sentence Ben Goldacre fired the starting shot of a now-eight-year crusade waged from the pages of The Guardian, Twitter and a bestselling book also called Bad Science. Each week since, Goldacre, a medical doctor, has slung well-placed scrutiny at the massive foreheads of publicly traded charlatans and/or their press agents. Given the business of legerdemain continues to boom, he may be dissecting tall tales for a while.
Helped along by this inexhaustible supply of material, Goldacre also travels the speaking circuit lately, promoting skepticism and nerdish curiosity with fire, wit, fast delivery and a lovable kind of exasperation. (He might even convince you that real science, sober reporting and reason are going to win in the end.)
As he writes, "If you're a journalist who misrepresents science for the sake of a headline, a politician more interested in spin than evidence, or an advertiser who loves pictures of molecules in little white coats, then beware: your days are numbered."
"There aren't many out-and-out good eggs in British journalism but Ben Goldacre is one of them."Ed Lake, The Daily Telegraph
Quotes by Ben Goldacre
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“Real science is all about critically appraising the evidence for somebody else’s position.”
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“The placebo effect is one of the most fascinating things in the whole of medicine. It’s not just about taking a pill, and your performance and your pain getting better. It’s about our beliefs and expectations. It’s about the cultural meaning of a treatment.”
